The 'Big John' Campaign: Advertising in the Beer Market

Tim Broadbent and James Best

How the `Big John' advertising campaign boosted John Smith's Bitter's brand share amongst Yorkshire beers and helped to increase sales at a time of market decline.
Agency: Boase Massimi Pollitt PartnershipAuthors: Tim Broadbent and James Best

The 'Big John' Campaign: Advertising in the Beer Market

INTRODUCTION

This paper attempts to show how the 'Big John' advertising campaign boosted John Smith's Bitter's brand share amongst Yorkshire beers and helped to increase sales at a time of market decline.

It is notoriously difficult to isolate the effect of advertising on beer sales, owing to the complexity of the business and the sheer size of the brands involved, which together mitigate against radical, and therefore easily measurable, changes. The attempt is nonetheless well worth making....

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